Simone Rapisarda Casanova
A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (January 2024) |
Simone Rapisarda Casanova | |
---|---|
Born | Catania, Italy |
Nationality | Italian |
Citizenship | Canadian |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Known for | Winner of the Best Emerging Director award, Locarno Film Festival 2014, Switzerland |
Notable work | The Strawberry Tree (2011), The Creation of Meaning (2014) |
Simone Rapisarda Casanova is an Italian
Life
Rapisarda Casanova was born in Catania, Italy. He developed an interest in photography and cinema while studying Computer Science at the University of Pisa. Soon after moving to Canada in 2000, he abandoned his career in the software industry to devote himself to studying film, first in Montreal and later in Toronto.[1]
He is both an active filmmaker and a teacher (
Filmography
Blending documentary and fiction, Rapisarda Casanova’s experimental films are the result of a process-driven approach in which the filmmaker, eschewing screenwriting and production-planning, personally tackles all aspects of preproduction, production and postproduction.[2]
His style is marked by an oneiric approach to storytelling, long takes, fixed camera positions, and the choice of non-actors who improvise on a loose outline. The filmmaker only shoots one take for each scene and, at a later stage, chooses and assembles only what seems to evoke the most intimate essence of characters and places.
El árbol de las fresas (The Strawberry Tree)
(Canada/Cuba/Italy, 2011, 71 min) The first feature-length film by the author is an experimental ethnography that captures the last days of the village of Juan Antonio, Cuba, shortly before hurricane Ike wiped it out.[4][6][7][8] The film was included in Film Comment’s list of the “Fifty Best Undistributed Films of 2012.”
La creazione di significato (The Creation of Meaning)
(Italy/Canada, 2014, 90 min) An aging but tenacious
Zanj Hegel la (Hegel's Angel)
(Canada/Haiti/Italy/United States, 2018, 70 min) The film captures the daily life of a boy named Widley in contemporary Haiti, as it unfolds between mundane activities, mystic presences, the turmoil caused by upcoming elections, and his interest for the making of a weird film.[12] With this film Rapisarda's research moves further into experimental ethnofiction following the shared ethnography path opened by Jean Rouch.[13][5]
In the Garden of Forking Paths
(Canada, 2021, 70 min) Experimental ethnography directed by Rapisarda and
See also
References
- ^ a b "Discovering the Spiritus Loci: Simone Rapisarda Casanova on The Creation of Meaning". Filmmaker Magazine. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ a b "Pacifico's Heights: Simone Rapisarda Casanova on The Creation of Meaning". Cinemascope. 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "School for the Contemporary Arts Faculty". Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ a b "A tree that's no longer there: An interview with filmmaker Simone Rapisarda Casanova". Austin Vida. 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ a b Dara Culhane (January 2019). "Spirit of Place. A few notes on ethnography, cinema and 3 films by Simone Rapisarda and co- creators". Centre for Imaginative Ethnography (CIE). Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "2012 Ann Arbor Film Festival". Academic Hack. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "The Strawberry Tree: LAFF review". The Hollywood Reporter. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "Images Conscious". Art Forum. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "Shepherd Doc 'The Creation of Meaning' Finds Majesty in a Vanishing Way of Life". The Village Voice. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "Film Review: 'The Creation of Meaning'". Variety. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "Review: 'The Creation of Meaning' Views an Economically Torn Italy in Echoes of Earlier Days". The New York Times. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ Paige Smith (January 2019). "Zanj Hegal La: Colonialism, Filmmaking and Attempts at Accountability". SADMag. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- S2CID 212943996. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "Freiburger Filmforum program 2023 featured themes". Freiburger-filmforum.de. Retrieved 6 January 2024.